Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel emerged as the best-performing mobile network operators in Karimnagar city and surrounding highways, according to the latest drive test conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in May 2026. The drive test assessed voice quality, coverage, call reliability, and mobile data performance across Karimnagar city, surrounding towns, and key highways in Andhra Pradesh.
TRAI’s appointed agency conducted tests over 136.3 km of city roads, 217.2 km of highways, and 3 hotspot locations between May 11 and May 12, 2026. The survey covered Karimnagar, Vemulawada, Rajanna Sircilla, Husnabad, Bejjanki, Mulkanoor, Elkaturthy, Huzurabad, and surrounding areas.
In Karimnagar city, Bharti Airtel has recorded the lowest number of poor signal samples at 103 out of 24,435, followed by Jio with 271 out of 24,231, Vodafone Idea (Vi) with 747 out of 24,307, and BSNL with 1,879 out of 24,174. Airtel, Jio, and Vi reported zero no-coverage samples, while BSNL recorded 22 no-coverage instances.
For voice call reliability within the city, Airtel achieved a perfect score with zero dropped calls out of 218 established calls. Jio, BSNL, and Vi each recorded one dropped call during testing. Airtel also delivered the best voice quality, registering zero call silence instances, compared with 1 for Jio, 2 for Vi, and 12 for BSNL.
Jio led city mobile data performance with an average download speed of 217.63 Mbps, significantly ahead of Airtel’s 115.67 Mbps. Vi recorded 18.96 Mbps, while BSNL’s 3G network achieved 7.32 Mbps. For uploads, Airtel topped the rankings with 22.79 Mbps, narrowly ahead of Jio’s 19.88 Mbps, while Vi reached 6.07 Mbps and BSNL 2.07 Mbps.
On the Karimnagar–Vemulawada–Siricilla and Karimnagar–Bejjanki–Husnabad–Mulkanoor–Elkaturthy–Huzurabad highway routes, Airtel again delivered the strongest coverage with 384 poor signal samples out of 16,743, compared with 1,021 out of 16,646 for Jio, 1,687 out of 16,718 for Vi, and 3,657 out of 16,413 for BSNL. Airtel, Jio, and Vi maintained zero no-coverage samples, while BSNL reported 126.
Airtel and Jio both completed highway voice testing without any dropped calls, while Vi experienced 3 dropped calls out of 80 and BSNL recorded 13 dropped calls out of 87. Airtel also had the fewest call silence instances at 3 out of 84, followed by Jio (4 out of 83), BSNL (6 out of 75), and Vi (8 out of 83).
Jio delivered the fastest highway mobile internet experience with an average download speed of 255.87 Mbps, outperforming Airtel’s 143.64 Mbps. Vi achieved 20.59 Mbps, while BSNL recorded 8.31 Mbps. Airtel maintained the highest average upload speed at 22.26 Mbps, followed by Jio at 18.39 Mbps, Vi at 6.79 Mbps, and BSNL at 2.37 Mbps.
The drive test also evaluated user experience at Collectorate Office Karimnagar, Tower Circle Karimnagar, and Vemulawada Temple and Market Street, providing consumers with an independent assessment of mobile network quality across the region. Overall, the results indicate that Jio leads in download speeds, while Airtel excels in network coverage, voice quality, call reliability, and upload performance across both urban and highway environments.
SHAFANA FAZAL
